Reason And Action Essay

879 words - 4 pages

There has been much debate about how and why humans act. One argument stems from the Causal Theory of Action. This position, popularized by philosophers such as Donald Davidson Davidson, posits that reason explanations are causal explanations: an agent's desires, intentions, and means-end beliefs are the causes of the corresponding action. However, this claim has been heavily contended. Other thinkers, such as Ruben and Dreyfus, believe there is no intent in an agent’s actions. Instead, they argue that an agent acts based on flow, experience, and expertise; there is no overarching cause-effect relationship to action. Furthermore, this class of thought considers the Causal Theory to be associated with an inherent problem, mental overpopulation.
This phenomena can be summed in saying that the intentions, desires, wants associated with the Causal Theory are detrimental to an agent’s resulting actions. In other words, that feeling of choking, or freezing, in a pressure situation correlated with an action (particularly skilled activity) results from the overthinking and the overanalyzing that the Causal Theory vigorously supports. While Ruben and Dreyfus mainly work to debunk the claims of Davidson and the Casual Theory through the problem of mental overpopulation (and then skilled activity), another philosopher, Randolph Clarke, argues for the Causal Theory in a way not before presented in the debate. As such, Clarke shows the Causal Theory of Action can withstand the criticisms of Ruben and Dreyfus and the problem of mental overpopulation.
Operationalizing the Causal Theory is the first step in this argument. Davidson believed the “primary reason for an action is its cause” (686). In more superfluous writing, “To know a primary reason why someone acted as he did is to know an intention with which the action was done” (Davidson 689). Just as physicists and economists work to unlock certain secrets of our world, Davidson is trying to apply the same cause-effect relationship to how and why humans act in particular situations. Davidson counters his opposition by stating that in “many cases it is not difficult at all to find events very closely associated with the primary reason” (Davidson 694). Furthermore, Davidson believes that “it may be maintained that a reason rationalizes an action only when the descriptions are appropriately fixed,” (Davidson 694). Davidson recognizes a limit in his argument yet does not find a way to efficiently acknowledge the actions that fall out of the realm of his theory. His argument is limited however, as it attempts to structure all movements defined as action into one broad causal basket. This is how thinkers like Dreyfus critique Davidson’s work. The result is this construction of the problem of mental...

Find Another Essay On Reason and Action

827 words - 3 pages
admit more African Americans and Latino’s into the school. Following affirmative action, the school became a diverse, prestigious and lively institution. For this reason the author argues that affirmative action is the reason Berkley School of Law is a great law school. Before affirmative action, the universities were less diverse. UCLA and Berkley School of law between 1987 and 1997 has produced 600 blacks lawyers and more than 800 Latino

2051 words - 8 pages
into their freshman class. However after affirmative action was enforced, the school started to admit more African Americans and Latino’s into the school. Following affirmative action, the school became a diverse, prestigious and lively institution. For this reason the author argues that affirmative action is the reason Berkley School of Law is a great law school. Before affirmative action, the universities were less diverse. UCLA and Berkley School

657 words - 3 pages
Affirmative Action Helps Qualified Minorities
Affirmative action doesn't require a company to hire the local percentage of women and minorities, qualified or not. The program determines the percentage of qualified women and minorities available to a company, then sets flexible goals, to be reached in good faith. As a result, numerous studies show that minorities who land their jobs through affirmative action are not less qualified than

2284 words - 10 pages
., Copyright 2005 by V. Koshy Reprinted with permission.
While the Deakin model includes self-reflection, it is at a collective level. Another grouping within emancipatory action research, places more emphasis on the individual or first person action research as identified by Reason (2001, p. 185) where the focus is to facilitate the practitioner as a research to “foster an inquiring approach to his or her own life, to act awarely and choicefully

594 words - 2 pages
; a background that not all people have. They would claim it measures cultural advantage. Another reason that affirmative action is needed is that, given a black man and a white man of equal economic status, studies show the black man would lead a significantly lesser life. To all those that say that affirmative action disenfranchises white males, proponents say that affirmative action is designed to help minorities and women and within that

604 words - 2 pages
become active in our pluralistic, democratic society after they leave college.Once diversity is increased in the colleges and universities, the true goal of affirmative action can be met and its many problems can be solved. If somebody knows they were admitted to a college because of their race, they have very little reason to try to do a good job. Conversely, if somebody knows they are admitted because of their merits, they will have a strong reason

1330 words - 6 pages
, affirmative action does not determine preferences based on race, nor does it produce quotas. The law states that affirmative action programs must be flexible, using goals and timetables, but not quotas to remedy discrimination. The selection of unqualified candidates is not permitted under federal affirmative action guidelines and should not be equated with legality of affirmative action.
Although my argument gives reason to the importance of

1218 words - 5 pages
, she should be hired. This is not preferential treatment. Another misconception about affirmative action is that they stigmatize and call into question the credentials of the qualified minorities. We hear a lot about so-called stigma of affirmative action for minorities and women. We are told that affirmative action harms the psyches of African Americans, Latinos, and women. For some reason, veterans are not stigmatized by the GI Bill and Europeans

1131 words - 5 pages
minorities in Texas and California's well-known universities. Consequently, confirming that without affirmative action, any minority will not have a realistic chance in today's civilization.Professor Lino Graglia, a challenger of affirmative action argued, "the whole reason you have racial preferences is that the racially preferred do not meet the standards applied to others, if you require that they meet the standards, then they don't get in." This

2405 words - 10 pages
. Sixty percent of the enrolling class was accepted to fulfill the universities diversity needs. That’s three out of every five students being accepted for the sole reason of their race or culture, not their academics. As if those numbers alone were not enough to end affirmative action, D’Souza extended this problem to a simpler level. Two students applied to UC Berkley in 1987. Student A was valedictorian, with a 4.0 GPA, had a 1340 and was

925 words - 4 pages
.
Now we explore if all these actions should receive the same amount of praise or punishment. I believe all actions should receive the same amount punishment except compulsory. If you commit an act, it is your responsibility to know all the information and consequences surrounding that action. If you decide to commit an action without all the knowledge of the situation, that is nobody’s burden but your own. The only reason a compulsory action

Similar Essays

2001 words - 8 pages
is one more of action than contemplation.2 To expound is a word of action and movement, and the Spirit calls for the church to act in order to multiply the numbers of the saved. In John McGreevy’s Parish Boundaries, the role of the Catholic Church is examined through the de-segregation efforts of major urban areas in the early to mid-twentieth century. In the Catholic Church, a balance between faith, reason, belief and action is a connection

2000 words - 8 pages
his view implies that every action is ultimately performed for selfish reasons, providing examples.Before we may begin to analyse Humes view, we must first create a reference point by understanding the previous view held by classical philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, presented through texts such as Platos This Republic. In this, Plato claimed that one must act accordingly to either reason or passion, where reason was a stable

1700 words - 7 pages
another answer to racism.There are so many possible answers to racism that just don¹t seem to work. It is a wonder universities have come this far under such controversial terms. "The university is a temple of reason and tolerance or it is nothing" (Zuckerman 64). Higher learning institutions must almost be nothing though, because so many choices we make are not made out of reason or tolerance, but out of necessity. Affirmative action is the

1518 words - 6 pages
What is a moral? This is a question that has plagued philosophers for many years. Is it possible
to have a set of universal morals? There are many questions that surround the mystery of morals. They
seem to drive our every action. We base our decisions on what is right and what is wrong. But what is it
that actually determines what is right and what is wrong? Is it our sense of reason? Is it our sense of